Coffee loss to bush fire estimated at $180m

THE Jamaica Coffee Industry Board (CIB) has estimated that the industry will suffer losses of approximately $180 million in the next three years resulting from the bush fire that has devastated farms in a large section of east rural St Andrew.

CIB chairman Delano Franklyn gave the estimate during a tour of the Stoneleigh Coffee Factory in Mavis Bank in St Andrew on Wednesday.

“In terms of the cost, when combined, current loss is about $60 million. However, it takes approximately three years for a coffee tree to mature and bear, so we are talking about $180 million which will be lost in coffee over the next three years,” said Franklyn.